BRAINCAKEReducing Steps and Hazardous Solvents
When chemists plan a synthesis for industry, making the right product is only part of the job. The process should also be efficient, safe and sustainable. Two ways to achieve this are to use as few steps as possible and to avoid hazardous solvents and starting materials.
Why fewer steps? Some product is lost at every step, because yields are never 100%. The overall yield is found by multiplying the yields of the individual steps, so it falls quickly as a route gets longer. Each extra step also uses more reagents, energy, time and labour, and produces more waste.
overall yield = yield1 × yield2 × yield3 ...
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Key terms in this lesson
- atom economy
- The percentage of the total mass of reactants that ends up as the desired product in a reaction.
More in Organic Synthesis
- Organic Synthesis
- Synthetic Routes - Aliphatic Compounds
- Synthetic Routes - Aromatic Compounds
- Reaction Conditions and Reagents
- Designing Multi-Step Syntheses
All 6 lessons in Organic Synthesis · All AQA A-level Chemistry topics